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GMU Center for Psychological Services

Summary

The George Mason University Center for Psychological Services (GMU CPS) is a community-located and community-serving psychological services office that serves as the primary training clinic for the graduate students in Clinical and School Psychology at GMU, a field placement for graduate students in social work, and an externship training site for doctoral-level clinical psychology graduate students from other local universities.

GMU CPS offers a range of evidence-based treatment services and has a sliding scale fee so that all people have the opportunity for assessment and treatment regardless of their income.

Summary

The George Mason University Center for Psychological Services (GMU CPS) is a community-located and community-serving psychological services office that serves as the primary training clinic for the graduate students in Clinical and School Psychology at GMU, a field placement for graduate students in social work, and an externship training site for doctoral-level clinical psychology graduate students from other local universities.

GMU CPS offers a range of evidence-based treatment services and has a sliding scale fee so that all people have the opportunity for assessment and treatment regardless of their income.

Information

About

We offer a variety of assessment options, primarily psychoeducational testing and mental health evaluations (many of which are court-ordered) as well as therapy for children, adolescents, and adults. We do individual therapy, family therapy, couples counseling, and groups.

All trainees are very closely supervised by licensed psychologists who are faculty and adjuncts within the Psychology Department at George Mason University. The GMU CPS adheres to a clinical science model of training and, therefore, all trainees receive training in, and are expected to practice utilizing evidence-based assessment and psychotherapy techniques. While faculty supervisors at GMU CPS maintain a primarily Cognitive-Behavioral orientation, other evidenced-based orientations (e.g., DBT, Family Systems) are presented and trainees are provided opportunities for integrating various evidence-based techniques as appropriate in understanding and addressing a client’s needs.

Mission Statement

The GMU Center for Psychological Services is the primary training facility for graduate students in the Clinical Psychology Doctoral Program and School Psychology Masters Program in the Department of Psychology. Our mission is to provide evidence-based clinical training in assessment, consultation and intervention, and to provide accessible, culturally sensitive, state-of-the-art services to the community. The Center also participates in clinical research to help improve the quality of existing interventions and contribute to the scientific community. In coordination with the training programs, the Center trains the next generation of ethical, caring, knowledgeable and innovative treatment providers in models based on scientific knowledge while meeting community needs.

Values Statement

Professionals at the Center are expected to adhere to high values at all times:

Always learning from teachers, other students and from clients, improving skills, developing new interests, trying new things

Training Clinic Model

Services at the GMU Center for Psychological Services are primarily provided by graduate student clinicians training to become clinical and school psychologists. Our trainees are not yet licensed, but all of the services they provide are supervised closely by GMU-affiliated faculty who are licensed to practice. You will be provided with this supervisor’s name at the start of your therapy or assessment.

As trainees are being supervised, sessions are observed, usually via audio or video recording, and the supervisor reviews the recordings to ensure the provision of the best care possible. The recordings are confidential, deleted at the end of treatment/assessment, and are used only to provide feedback to the trainees. This approach is widely used in the training of clinical and school psychologists and other mental healthcare providers.

If you are not comfortable with this arrangement, we occasionally have licensed providers and affiliated faculty with openings for assessment and therapy services. We can also provide you with referrals to licensed professionals in the community.

Being a training clinic also affects fees and billing. As a training clinic, our fees are lower than what psychologists in the community typically charge.